My name is Aristocles, but many people recognize me by the name Plato. I was born in the city of Athens around 428 B.C., during the midst of the Peloponnesian War, and formulated several of my theories at the end of the war. Both my parents were politically active and of noble lineage, which allowed me to be heavily educated in rigorous courses. This helped me establish a firm foundation on the importance of philosophy, mathematics, politics, and more. Like all noble men, I initially intended to go into politics. However, my whole life changed when I met the incredible philosopher, Socrates. Under his wing, I was well-informed of his intellect and theories on political as well as moral philosophy, such as justice, courage, and virtue. He guided my studies for almost a decade until his execution by the Thirty Tyrants, for “corrupting the youth” and “introducing new gods.” I was so appalled by the regime of the Thirty Tyrants that I abandoned direct involvement in politics and turned to writing and education. This ignited my 12 year travel, where I soughted out prestigious philosophers that helped construct my dialogues. After my trip, I went back to Athens and formed the The Academy. I created this institution l in order to teach my philosophical understanding of certain topics, consisting of justice, classical republicanism, and civic virtue. I challenged my scholars to develop a new understanding of the universe. I believe that knowledge …show more content…
One dialogue I treasure is The Republic, where I focus on the topics: justice and the order and character of the ideal city-state. My works have contributed immensely to modern-day American government through classical republicanism. Classical republicanism is the idea that a government should be based on the views of the majority, while the people should give up all private interests if it is not consistent with the common good. Likewise, I have influenced several American policies, for example, such as welfare and economic equality. I sincerely stress the importance of civic virtue in a nation, as well, which is essentially the norm of ethical behavior in connection to a citizen’s association with society. Today in American government, however, citizens have begun to grow less and less concern for their government and have drastically cut efforts to express the greatest civic opportunity given to them: the power to vote. The growing percentage of eligible voters who do not vote argue that they are ill, busy, are not registered, or that they just do not care about their government. To resolve this frightening issue, politicians can pass laws that help aid those who struggle to register and vote, such as the Motor Voter Act of 1993, which enabled Americans to automatically register as voters when they received their driver’s license. Emphasized in The Republic,